This document summarizes a lecture on media technologies that focused on surveillance and perspectives on the connection between communication technology and society. The lecture discussed: 1. Various technologies used for surveillance like internet-connected services, cameras, and "smart" devices as well as government programs and data mining by companies. 2. The concept of the panopticon as a metaphor for constant surveillance and how this relates to society. 3. Four perspectives on the relationship between technology and society - instrumentalism, determinism, substantivism, and constructivism - and how surveillance fits into this framework.

1. MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES
Introduction to Media & Society
Dr. Vincent Manzerolle
October 30, 2017
1

2. This week…
• Lecture time devoted to:
1. Announcement about half-way point in course, grades so far,
etc.
2. Information literacy workshop, including distribution of
worksheet required for assignment #2.
• Media technologies lecture during second half: focus on
surveillance and philosophical perspectives on the connection
between communication technology and society.
2

3. Announcement: Half-way point in semester
• Assignments returned at the midterm exam. See your lab leader if
you have any questions.
• Midterm grades posted to Blackboard. You can review your exam
during office hours.
• Remember that the course is not evenly weighted:
• Assignment #1 = 15%, Assignment #2 = 25%
• Midterm = 20%, Final = 30%
3

4. Assignment #2 – Media issue paper
• Due November 20 in lecture (with worksheet) and on Blackboard.
• See Blackboard for a detailed assignment instruction sheet and
grading rubric. Read all instructions carefully.
• Have questions? Ask in lab! Visit office hours!
• Worksheet is a graded component of assignment #2. Worksheet for
those attending today and is not on Blackboard.
7

5. 8

6. 9

7. Problem: Information Overload
• More information does not equal more knowledge.
• More information does not mean better information.
15

8. 16
More Knowledge or TruthMore Information

9. Solution: Information Literacy!
• How to assess sources, their accuracy, biases, and overall credibility.
• EG:
17

10. Information literacy
• A single day’s worth of news produces more information than a
cultivated/well-educated person in the 1800s would absorb in a
lifetime.
• “Humans are producing such quantities of data – 2.5 quintillion
bytes of data daily, to be precise – and on such a steep curve, that
90 percent of all existing data is less than two years old.” (Essif,
2015)
• “A crucial skill in information society consists in protecting oneself
against the 99.99% of the information offered that one does not
want.” (Eriksen in Bauman, 2009, p. 162)
18

11. Information literacy
• Then, there’s the question of accuracy of information – especially
online.
19

12. Tips on finding sources
General internet:
• Google, Wikipedia, Medium, Wordpress etc.
• Do not assume first links are most relevant for your purposes;
find both “sides” of an issue; experiment with terms.
• Use “advanced” search criteria to refine searches.
• Look for .org or .edu sites
• Multiple search engines?
• Bing, DuckDuckGo
• Triangulate online sources, try to find multiple sites that confirm
a fact or piece of information, particularly if it is crucial to your
argument.
20

13. Tips on finding sources
News/journalistic:
• Use databases at leddy.uwindsor.ca/communications
• Experiment with terms, find ways to narrow, consider old and new.
• What kind of newspaper or news company are you dealing with?
• General interest, national focus, regional
• Tabloid
• Industry/interest focus (e.g. tech or entertainment press)
• Does it have an offline publication? History?
21

14. Tips on finding sources
Academic:
• Once again, use databases at leddy.uwindsor.ca/communications
• Consider taking a step back and think about debates larger than
topic.
• Look at journal “impact factor”
• Journals should be “peer reviewed”
• Experts in the field, diff from journalists
• Specialized jargon, longer process to pub.
• “Paywalls”
22

15. Tips on evaluating sources (not comprehensive!)
General internet:
• Strengths: starting point for overview, diversity, current.
• Weaknesses: conjecture and credibility, Wikipedia issues.
23

16. Tips on evaluating sources (not comprehensive!)
News/journalistic:
• Strengths: journalistic professional standards and processes,
current.
• Weaknesses: media reporting on media, not as in-depth.
24

17. Tips on evaluating sources (not comprehensive!)
Academic:
• Strengths: experts on topic, peer review process, evidence-based.
• Weaknesses: slow publishing, can be too narrow and theoretical.
25

18. Final advice for assignment #2
• Do not lose that worksheet!
• November is always busy, so start early.
• Seek help in lab, and during your lab leader’s office hours. Also
consider services such as library research desk (leddy.uwindsor.ca/
reference-help-desk), writing help desk (leddy.uwindsor.ca/
writing-help).
• I want correct APA style for citations and bibliography, but less
concerned with other APA rules (e.g., running heads, exact format
of title page).
26

19. BEST STRATEGY
• Triangulate your sources!
• Look for convergences or overlaps between a variety of sources.
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of each.
• Do not just rely heavily on one source or one type of source.
• Make sure you understand any differences among your sources.
27

20. Communication technologies and surveillance
• This is, by my assessment, the most important societal issue
relating to communication technologies.
• More in-depth explorations of this issue can be found in other
Communication, Media & Film “new media” courses, including
02-40-304 – an entire course on privacy, surveillance, and
security & 02-40-200 ‘critical digital literacies’
• First, we will consider the technologies and agents of surveillance.
29

21. Technologies of surveillance
• Proliferation of internet based or internet connected services.
• Consider Netflix: as internet-distributed television, Netflix
watches you as you watch Netflix. Allows for Netflix to be
“algorithmic” media – an important idea from this week’s
textbook chapter.
41

22. Technologies of surveillance
• Or, consider “Hello Barbie”: an internet connected toy, connecting
via wifi to a server so a child can have a conversation with Barbie.
42
• Or, Disney’s recent use of apps to surveil children.

24. Technologies of surveillance
• Paralleling the proliferation of internet connected services and
things is a proliferation of cameras in the last 10-15 years.
• Surveillance cameras.
• Smartphone cameras.
• … and the recently announced Snapchat “Spectacles” or relaunch
of Google Glass
44

26. ADVERTISING!

30. Agents of surveillance – government
• Edward Snowden leaked NSA “PRISM” program in 2013.
• More recent, fall 2016, case of Yahoo e-mail filter.
50

31. Agents of surveillance – government
• Recently, both Twitter and Instagram blocked a London, Ontario,
data mining firm called “Media Sonar” from their platforms (APIs).
• This firm helped police services across North America in
monitoring people, specifically protestors.
• Read more: cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/twitter-bans-firm-police-
protesters-1.3942093
53

32. Agents of surveillance – employers
• Employer surveillance in the form of monitoring on the job, or
screening prospective employees via social media.
55

33. Agents of surveillance – commercial data mining
• Commercial/advertising surveillance: data mining for better and
more efficient customized ad targeting.
• Google makes money from advertising. Google sells audiences, as
commodities, to advertisers.
• Every Google user is also a producer of information.
• Sophisticated user data derived from search, e-mail, documents,
maps, YouTube, “okay Google” virtual assistant, Chrome browser,
etc.
57

34. Google and the digital enclosure
• Digital enclosure concept: the process whereby activities formerly
carried out beyond the monitoring capacity of the internet are
enfolded into that virtual space. Human behaviours are not new,
but tracking them is.
• This applies to Google, and an array of other platforms.
• Personal data the new “oil,” a valuable resource.
58

35. The panopticon
• Metaphor for conceptualizing surveillance.
• Panopticon is a theoretical prison design from the 1700s: “all-
seeing” circular design of constant visibility.
• Guards in central tower could monitor all prisoners.
• Prisoners could not see guards and, hence, never be sure if they
were being watched at any exact moment.
• Surveillance as a form of discipline, ensuring compliance and
forcing people to self-regulate their own behaviour.
60

36. What is ‘technology’?
What drives technological change?
66
Four Perspectives
Instrumentalism
Determinism
Substantivism
Constructivsm

37. Perspectives on technology
• “Instrumentalism”: technology is a value-neutral tool that helps
us achieve our goals more efficiently.
67

38. Perspectives on technology
• “Determinism”: technology operates according to an inherent,
internal logic; the effects of technology are imposed by the
technology itself.
68

39. Perspectives on technology
• “Substantivism”: technology operates according to its own
inherent logic and at the expense of humanity.
69

40. 70

41. Perspectives on technology
• “Constructivism”: technology is socially constructed and shaped
by social forces. Technology develops in a socially contingent
manner, i.e., it is contingent on the society that surrounds it;
society shapes technology.
71

42. Four perspectives (as a matrix)
Technology is…. Autonomous Human controlled
Value-neutral Determinism Instrumentalism
Value-laden Substantivism Constructivism
72
Theorizing surveillance as a panopticon… where does it fit?

43. Key concepts, examples, names
Concepts:
• Algorithmic media
• Constructivism
• Digital enclosure
• Instrumentalism
• Panopticon
• Re-intermediation
• Substantivism
• Technological determinism
Examples:
• Examples (various) of government
surveillance
• Google’s data mining
Names:
• Edward Snowden
73